Technical Springs

[Benny]

Has anybody had trouble with their springs yet I know vectras suffer. I had a rattle for months but couldn,t track it down, during this period car passed it,s MOT, then after driving down a piece of road (cobbles) I heard the sound of metal hitting road, found 3ins curved metal and of course the rattle had stopped. On investigation the bottom 3ins of spring gone, the car drives OK ride height unaffected. Toying with idea of phoning Fiat, car out of warranty by 5 weeks.
Any thoughts?

 

[Moneyfool]

Just been changing the discs all round today and noticed about half a coil of the rear off side spring broken off at the base but still in-situ. On other threads I have mentioned about the sometimes harsh ride I have but put it down possibly to the 18" wheels. Now perhaps there is another reason... This is on a 2005 with 70,000 miles.

 

[Chris@souls]

I have seen a couple with broken springs

 

[DoIDon'tI]

If it's any help then the www.Vectra-c.com chaps seem to recommend Eibach springs, trouble is they only do lowered ones. Seems to be the case that Vauxhall used recycled chocolate as the basis for Vectra suspension components...!

 

[Chris@souls]

the last one I done, (front) had to come as a pair of shocks with springs!!!

 

[croma06]

My front driver spring went while driving on the m4 @ 70mph causing majors shock to me and my family, what was left of the spring that had come out and cut clean my new tyre all the way round, manged to control my car ,I had the car towed back home and then I took down to the dealer , conclusion I had two set of front suspension , new tyre and some plastic s replaced , the dealer has said that FIAT Uk to pickup the costs ! I had the car back today after a week due to parts not avail in UK.
FIAT Uk have not done a recall until someone dies first ! Same happen for Stilo some one lost a life then FIAT did a recall.
This is a serious saftey issue I'm wirting to customer service manager , to trading standards and done to my local MP. I'm considering tomorrow to contact the newspaper I sure that way FIAT will start the recall !

Keep safe, act now ! Write to FIAT !

Customer Relation Manager
FIAT House
240, Bath Road
Slough
Berkshire
SL1 4DX

 

[croma06]

have a look at my tyre !

 

[Moneyfool]

What was the mileage of your car when it happened and what year of manufacture?

 

[aatekkie]

My front driver spring went while driving on the m4 @ 70mph causing majors shock to me and my family, what was left of the spring that had come out and cut clean my new tyre all the way round, manged to control my car ,I had the car towed back home and then I took down to the dealer , conclusion I had two set of front suspension , new tyre and some plastic s replaced , the dealer has said that FIAT Uk to pickup the costs ! I had the car back today after a week due to parts not avail in UK.
FIAT Uk have not done a recall until someone dies first ! Same happen for Stilo some one lost a life then FIAT did a recall.
This is a serious saftey issue I'm wirting to customer service manager , to trading standards and done to my local MP. I'm considering tomorrow to contact the newspaper I sure that way FIAT will start the recall !

Keep safe, act now ! Write to FIAT !

Hi
Very sorry to read of the spring failure of your car and well done for maintaining control. Unfortunately, this problem is affecting many makes and models of car. The number of breakdowns, attended by AA Patrols, which were caused by coil spring failure, has increased by 1000 per cent. We have been researching the issue, but it only seems to be a problem in some countries - such as UK and Germany.

 

[DoIDon'tI]

That'll be the state of the roads, coupled with the increase in cars fitted with very low profile tyres...if the tyres don't take as much of the shock it's got to go somewhere. Just to reinforce aatekkie's point, my colleague has just had a spring break on his VW passat but thankfully it was when the car was stationary and unoccupied!

 

[Moneyfool]

That'll be the Vorstsprung Was Past It model then!

 

[croma06]

mine has 60k and 06 plate

 

[Gordon28]

Just had to have 2 front springs replaced this week along with an alternator,£400 lighter in the wallet.

 

[T14086]

That'll be the state of the roads, coupled with the increase in cars fitted with very low profile tyres...if the tyres don't take as much of the shock it's got to go somewhere. Just to reinforce aatekkie's point, my colleague has just had a spring break on his VW passat but thankfully it was when the car was stationary and unoccupied!

Good point, also speed bumps dont help. I actually travel 3 miles more to get home / to work just to avoid 18 speed bumps, over a working year thats over 4500 + any other travelling so we can safely say that over a year the car hits 7500-10,000 speed bumps

 

[SquarePeg]

Mine had to have new springs before I collected it from the dealer - he put in in for MOT early (not due until November) and it failed - "OSF Road spring incomplete".
That was at 3.5yrs/128,000m.

Incidentally in the past I've had a recall from Fiat for replacement springs on a Tempra at 6 years old and over 100,000m surely this should be the case here as well?

 

[bendy hendy]

Just taken my Stilo Multiwagon, 53 reg for its MOT. Drivers front and both rear springs have broken approc 4 inch from the bottom of the coils. Had the car from new and treat it with respect. Had to have the drivers side replaced 2 years ago for same issue. There must be a problem with the Coil springs.

 

[Peter Pick-Up]

Yes there's a problem with the Stilo springs indeed!
Fiat did a recall for this problem not so long ago, but they didn't replace the spring, but put some "cage" around the bottom, to prevent a broken spring to puncture the tire......
Go to any Fiat dealer and have your VIN number checked for the recall.
If you want to do it good, go for another brand spring, f.i. Eibach or H+R, they will lower the car, but the quality of those springs is much better than Fiat original.